Arithmically Inclined
by JulesoftheSea
Summary: Lexi wasn't looking for love but she was swept up in it anyway when she met Cedric Diggory during an Arithmancy study session. Canon for the most part, none of it contradicts the books. Enjoy!
1. Groping Eyes

"Lexi!" Patricia and Bree shouted to her down the hall. "Wait up!"

Lexi had hurried out of Potions class quickly because she was starving for dinner. Apparently a lot of people felt the same way. Kenneth Towler, another sixth year Gryffindor, bolted out of the class as soon as Snape released them; although that may have been attributed to his intense fear of Severus Snape himself. But a group of Hufflepuffs passed quickly by her as well, including Nick Hornsby, Lucille Richards and Cedric Diggory. The dungeon passage was so tight that Cedric accidentally knocked into her in his haste to maintain speed with his friends.

He turned quickly around, his face apologetic. "So…sorry." he muttered out, his mouth hanging open slightly as he looked at her. Nick pulled at his arm and the three were off again. That's when Bree and Patricia caught up, both giggling.

"Did you see the way Cedric looked at you?" Bree giggled silently so the people around couldn't hear. Lexi nudged her in the side.

"Please." Lexi scoffed. "He was just surprised that I was there."

Lexi looked ahead at Cedric and his friends, already ascending the stairs into the entrance hall, to make sure she was right. It looked like nothing had phased him. She was right, which was a good thing; Lexi didn't like it when guys groped at her with their eyes, not that it happened often, but Kenneth Towler did it enough in their classes that she found it a complete turn off. But there was a difference between Kenneth Towler and Cedric Diggory that made it much more acceptable in her eyes for Cedric's groping as opposed to Kenneth's groping. Kenneth was smart, and he knew it. He had no qualms with telling people how to do things the "right" way. Not only that, but he was also shorter and skinnier than her, which was another turn off because Lexi was only 5'4". Cedric on the other hand was modest, almost too modest for her taste. He sat quietly in his seat for every class they had together -- Potions, DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Ancient Ruins, and Arithmancy…basically most of her classes -- and he was very polite, almost too polite, whenever the teachers asked him to do something. Also, Cedric was known as one of the best looking guys at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lexi could not see why people obsessed over his looks so much. She did think he was good looking, but she didn't think people should make such a big deal out of it.

Then Patricia bumped into her, shaking her out of her reverie. She hadn't realized they were already in the Great Hall and going towards their normal lunch spot. Lexi, Bree, and Patricia always ate with their fellow sixth year Gryffindors, with the exception of Kenneth, who included Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fred and George Weasley, and Lee Jordan.

"Hey beautifuls." Lee greeted the three girls as they sat down. The eight of them had gotten really close since their first year at Hogwarts. Angelina, Alicia, Lexi, Bree and Patricia shared a dorm room, but they would always sneak into the boys room, much to the chagrin of Kenneth, to hang out.

"Guess who was checking Lexi out!" Bree said in a sing-song voice. Lexi rolled her eyes, but felt her face grow hot. Bree always did this. She was the group gossiper; she knew everything about everyone.

"Stop it, Bree. It was nothing." Lexi argued. Everyone ignored her.

"Who?" George asked with a wicked grin on his face.

"Cedric Diggory." Patricia answered.

"Tricia!" Lexi looked at her with betrayal.

"What? It's not a big deal, right?" Patricia taunted. They all laughed, except Lexi, who saw how she got herself stuck in that one.

"You know what I think, Lex?" Fred laughed.

"What?"

"I think you should work your magic on him."

"My magic?"

"Yes. Use your dazzling charm to make him fall head over heels for you so he'll ask you to the Yule Ball." Fred mocked her, laughing even harder when Lexi threw her piece of meat at his face. With a swish of his wand, he deflected it into his plate and then stabbed it with a fork and ate it.

"I'm so happy that my love life entertains you so much." Lexi laughed sarcastically.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Bree piped up. "He already asked Cho Chang."

"Already?!" Fred looked at her in disbelief. "McGonagall only announced it today!"

"See." Lexi smiled smugly at Fred.

Fred didn't say another word. They changed the topic of discussion over to the long essay Professor McGonagall assigned them for tomorrow. But Lexi's eyes unconsciously drifted over to the Hufflepuff table, looking for Cedric. He wasn't hard to spot. He sat in the middle of the long table, laughing with his large group of friends made mostly of girls. Lexi knew most of them were only over there because they had a huge crush on him, and thought that was kind of sad. Her eyes then brought themselves over to the Ravenclaw table, where she found Cho Chang in a similar situation. Cho was very popular, she always had her group surrounding her where ever she went. Two insanely popular people; it was like a match made in heaven.

The next day in Transfiguration, McGonagall collected the essays, which had taken Lexi all night to finish because, as usual, she procrastinated. As a result, she was exhausted and nearly fell asleep in class. And in Ancient Runes, she turned in an incomplete translation to which Professor Babbling chewed her out for being lazy and then went on to rant about the youth of the world and politics and such, as per usual. Then in Arithmancy, Professor Vector assigned them an obscene amount of homework, and Lexi got in an argument with her about it. As she walked out of the classroom, defeated, she heard a velvety voice quite close to her.

"Bad day?"

Lexi turned quickly and found herself face to face with Cedric Diggory. Cedric had never so much as talked to her except with the cordial hello and goodbye. Why was he talking to her now?

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry. We've had the last three classes together and I've noticed that you haven't had the best of luck today." he gave her a warm smile. She had never noticed that his eyes were a clear gray blue.

"Right." Lexi remembered. "You sit behind me in Babbling's class."

"Yes."

"Yeah. Not my best day, but what can a girl do?" she noticed he was walking with her to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Well, I have to agree with your argument in Vector's class. She's crazy." he chuckled.

"Thank you!" Lexi was happy someone agreed with her. Stupid Kenneth Towler.

"Hey. What are you doing after dinner?"

Lexi eyed him suspiciously. "Homework."

"Well, a group of us are going to the library to work on Arithmancy after. You want to join?"

Lexi considered this. Knowing Cedric's group, they probably had it all organized already, meaning little work for her. "Sure. Sounds good."

Cedric gave her a dazzling smile. "Great. See you then." he headed off to the Hufflepuff table to meet his friends as Lexi went in the opposite direction to the Gryffindor table.

Lexi was disappointed to see that Bree didn't miss anything. "Was that Cedric Diggory you were talking to?"

"Yes." Lexi rolled her eyes. She saw Bree and Alicia share a significant glance and a smile. "Oh, stop it!"


	2. Such a Prefect

The walk to the library took no time at all, and Lexi soon found herself approaching a group of five Hufflepuffs. Cedric waved her over and she sat down next to him.

"Just in time." he passed her a page of homework. It was already completed.

Lexi looked at him in surprise. "I don't get it. Did I miss something?"

Cedric and the others laughed at her expression. "Just copy it, Lexi. I'll explain later."

She laughed, having no problem with the situation at hand. "Just and true my ass." she muttered, to which the others laughed as well.

It took very little time to copy all the homework and have Nick Hornsby explain it to them, and they hung out until Madame Pince started closing the library. As they were leaving, Lexi caught up with Cedric.

"Explain."

"Nick is absurdly good at Arithmancy, so whenever Vector pulls this kind of thing…" he trailed off, trying to examine her reaction, which was amused. Lexi couldn't help but giggle. "We hardly ever do that." he tried to amend.

"And all this time, I thought you were such a prefect."

"Well, I am, which reminds me I have a prefect meeting in five minutes."

Lexi burst out laughing.

"What?" Cedric looked down at her.

"It's just funny. You completely broke a school rule by copying and now you're going to hurry off to be a prefect."

"Desperate times." Cedric shrugged. "I'll see you later."

He hurried down the hall towards the staircase. Lexi shook her head in disbelief and headed to the seventh floor.

She found Bree and Patricia at one of the tables doing the DADA homework for Moody.

"Where have you been?" Bree questioned.

Lexi shrugged. "In the library doing some Arithmancy homework." She opted to not tell them about the cheating part because Patricia was a stick in the mud about that kind of thing.

"I don't know why you took that class." Patricia noted from over her book.

"Neither do I." Lexi agreed, collapsing into one of the nearby chairs. "But it's not so bad." she smiled to herself.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and soon Kenneth Towler was sitting next to her.

"Hey, Lexi." he said with an over amount of zeal. "Would you like to work on the Arithmancy homework with me. I know you struggle in that class, but I could help you."

Lexi couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her throat, but she managed to pull it off as a cough. She noticed Bree and Patricia stuffing their mouths with their fists to stop themselves from laughing.

"Uh-hum… thanks, but no thanks, Kenneth. I already finished it."

"What?" he honestly looked confused and shocked, and that kind of hurt her. "You always procrastinate." Was her reputation really that bad?

"I joined the Hufflepuffs in their study group tonight." she quickly regretted admitting that. Now he would try to intrude on them. She'd have to catch up with Cedric the next day to warn him. Not to mention, Bree and Patricia were now looking at her intently.

"Oh. That's good." Kenneth swallowed and he suddenly looked nervous.

"Are you okay?" Lexi asked him.

"Actually, I didn't come over here to study with you." his face went beet red. "I… um, well, I wanted to know if… if you'd like to go to the ball with me." he looked like he was holding his breath.

She saw that he was almost shaking with anxiety and she had to end his pain quickly. She made up a the easiest lie quickly. "That's really sweet of you, Kenneth, but -"

Kenneth exhaled and looked sullenly at her. "There's always a but."

"Sorry. You see I'm not staying for the holiday. I'm going home."

Kenneth shrugged. "That's fine. Maybe next time." he sauntered off and Bree and Patricia shot her glares.

"Guess I'm going home after all." Lexi groaned.

"You didn't tell us you were with the Hufflepuffs. I'm assuming Cedric was among them?" Bree frowned.

"So what if Cedric was among them." Lexi groaned again. Cedric was right, this wasn't her day.

"It's okay to admit you like him, Lex." Patricia said matter-of-factly.

Lexi hit her hand on the table. "I don't! Stop bugging me about it."

She pushed her chair back and stomped off to her dormitory. Once there, she slumped onto her bed and buried her head with her pillow. She hated that people were already assuming that she liked Cedric Diggory after hanging out with him once. Sure, he was good looking -- too good looking -- and nice -- too nice -- and taken. Lexi knew she wasn't jealous of Cho Chang, she was actually happy for her; she realized today that there was a lot more to Cedric than meets the eye. Lexi was glad that she could call him a friend. But she still hated that people would start assuming there was more to that friendship because of the suddenness of it. She sighed; what could she do.

The morning dawned bright and clear. Lexi awoke to hear Angelina and Bree arguing over who got to take a shower first. She tried to ignore their hostile tones as she dressed into her uniform, having taken a shower the previous night when all the other girls were in the common room finishing their homework.

As she, Patricia and Lee walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, Lexi saw Cedric get out of his seat and come towards her. Patricia looked at her with a smug smile.

Lexi nudged her in the side. "I'll meet you at the table."

Patricia and Lee rolled their eyes, but didn't argue. Cedric was soon in front of her.

"Hey, Lexi."

"Hey."

"Just wanted to let you know, we're having another study group tonight in the library. If you're interested?"

"About that…" Lexi smiled weakly at him.

"What is it?"

"I kind of let it slip about the study group to Kenneth." she admitted.

Cedric started laughing.

"Why are you laughing?!"

"You look so guilty about it."

"Do you want him to join our study group?" Lexi was shocked at his reaction.

"_Our_ study group?"

"Well, your."

"No. It's fine, your officially inducted." he joked. "But why exactly is Kenneth not allowed, except that he's completely annoying?"

"Well, its awkward because he asked me to the ball last night and I lied to him to get out of it, so I'd rather not talk to him if at all possible." she explained.

"Got it." he chuckled. "I'll tell the others that we need a new location."

"Really? I don't want to be a problem."

"Of course. Don't worry about it, Lex. I'll see you in class." Cedric patted her arm and turned back to his table. Lexi watched him as she went to sit with her friends.


	3. I Like Dogs

Cedric's friends had indeed found a new place for them to hold their study group. Professor Sprout gave them the key to one of the unused classrooms on the third floor.

"The benefit of being a prefect." Cedric told them slyly as he unlocked the door on their first night, during the last week of term.

Now, it was Thursday night, the eve of the last day of term, and they were all excited that this was the last time they would have to study for two and a half weeks. That night they were working on an Arithmancy essay. It was long torturous work, but slowly the six people started trickling out of the room as they finished. Lexi had always been slow at writing essays so it didn't surprise her when she was one of the last two people in the room. She was surprised that Cedric was the other person.

As she finished her last sentence, she looked over at him. "Done."

"Wait." he told her, not looking up from his own roll of parchment. "I just need an ending. Give me something."

"And they all lived happily ever after." Lexi teased.

"Yeah. Vector would love that." he chuckled as he penned the last punctuation mark.

Lexi rolled onto her back from where she was laying on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling. Cedric looked at her while he stood up.

"You leaving or not?" he asked.

Lexi didn't move. "I'm not tired."

"Want some company?"

"Sure."

Cedric laid down next to her and put his arms behind his head, relaxed. "I heard you're going home for the holidays?"

She nodded.

"So no Yule Ball for you?"

"That's the general idea."

"Why not?" he asked with honest curiosity.

She didn't mind telling him; he didn't make her feel self conscious. "No one asked me. Well, except Kenneth, and you know Kenneth."

"I see."

"I heard you're going with Cho."

"Yeah."

"Is that a relationship in the making?" she quickly regretted the question when she saw him bite his lip. "Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

"No. It's okay." he quickly said. "Honestly, I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. We haven't really talked since I asked her out."

"Why not?"

"I don't have time. And neither does she. She's in her O.W.L. year and I have the tournament to worry about."

"How are you doing with the egg by the way?"

He turned his head to look at her, a smirk playing across his lips. "Are you going to turn traitor and run off to tell Harry?"

Lexi laughed. "Maybe."

"I guess I'll take my chances." he nudged her arm playfully. "Actually, I have no idea what the clue is supposed to be. I've tried every spell I know on it, but nothing works."

"You'll figure it out. I know you will."

"Thanks."

Silence fell on them. They lay side by side for five minutes before someone spoke again.

"Cedric? Why did you enter into the tournament?"

"I have no idea. I think I was high on something when I put my name in the Goblet."

"So it wasn't the whole _glory_ thing that was getting to your head?" she laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Her attempt worked and he laughed with her.

"Maybe that was it." he joked, but she noticed that part of his voice sounded serious.

"Are you nervous?"

"You should have seen me before the first task. I was shitting in my pants the whole time."

"But you were really good."

He looked at her skeptically.

"I'm serious. I was impressed." she tried to assure him. "I know I would have cracked under the pressure."

"I doubt that. The adrenaline rush keeps you up."

"I still think you were good."

"Harry's was so much cooler. I can't believe that three of us are seekers and only one of us was smart enough to use a broom. I could have hit myself after that. No, instead I use a stupid dog."

"Well, I like dogs." Lexi argued.

Cedric chuckled at her persistence. "I'm glad. You know, I could probably transfigure one of these chairs into a dog for you right now if you want."

He started to take out his wand from his robe pocket, but Lexi smashed her hand down on his chest to stop him. "No! You'll wake one of the teachers or something."

Her hand was still on his chest, and she noticed how rock hard it was from the years of quidditch training he went through. Starting to feel awkward, she slowly removed her hand. Cedric didn't seem to notice anything was wrong.

"That's true. But we could still set it loose on the school. That would be funny to watch Filch chasing a dog around all night." he suggested. They both laughed at the image. But then Cedric yawned; a great big yawn, at that.

"I'm sorry. You're probably really tired, huh?"

"Just a little bit."

Lexi jumped up and helped Cedric to his feet. "I'm supposed to be the gentleman." he frowned.

"Too bad." she shot him a sly smile. But she did let him open the door for her, and he was pleased about that.

"When are you leaving for the holiday?" he asked her before they left the privacy of the room.

"Saturday morning."

"You better tell me bye tomorrow." he warned her.

She giggled. "I will. Goodnight, Cedric."

"Night, Lex."

They waved each other off as they turned in opposite directions to go to their respective dormitories.

Lexi hated that she only had one class with Cedric on Fridays: Arithmancy. The worst part was that the class was right after her Care of Magical Creatures class that took place outside and lunch, meaning she usually was tired and not clean when she arrived to her Arithmancy class. But she had promised him she would see him before she left, and that was a promise she really wanted to keep. Unfortunately, she had procrastinated on her Care of Magical Creatures essay, and spent her entire morning free period and break doing that, before rushing off to class five minutes late. Then she looked for him at lunch, but he was no where to be seen and she assumed he was doing his prefect duties somewhere else, which was common for him. That didn't worry her because she knew she would see him in her next class.

But he wasn't in Arithmancy either. She started to panic; she really wanted to see him before she left. Professor Vector had to call her name three times before getting a wrong answer because Lexi wasn't paying attention at all during the entire class.

After the class ended, she thought it was best to take a quick shower before going down to dinner. But Lexi got real panicked when Cedric wasn't at dinner either. Bree, missing nothing of course, noticed Lexi twisting her hands together in her lap instead of eating her food.

"Lex?" Bree took one of Lexi's hands and shoved her fork into it, signifying her need to eat. "What's wrong?"

Alicia and George were with them and they both stopped eating to look curiously at their friend.

"It's nothing." Lexi lied and stuffed some food in her mouth to please Bree.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire. You've been weird all week, which I shouldn't have noticed because you've also been nonexistent in the common room. What's going on? This all started when you started hanging out with Diggory and his friends."

"Why do you automatically assume that everything has to do with Cedric!" Lexi glared at her. "I don't like him, okay? Get over it."

Lexi stormed out of her seat and into the entrance hall. She didn't know where to go to be alone. The Gryffindor common room was always packed and Bree and the others would find her there in an instant. Then it hit her, and she hoped the unused classroom on the third floor was still unlocked from their study session the previous night.

When she reached the hallway, she saw that the door was slightly ajar and the lights were off. Relieved, she made her way to the room, opened the door and flicked her wand to turn on the lights. Her heart stopped beating.

Standing in the middle of the room was Cedric in a tight embrace with Cho Chang. They were kissing, her arms around his neck, and his arms around her waist. But when the lights came on, Cedric looked up curiously. Lexi watched as his eyes grew wide with surprise and horror when they met her own.

Lexi couldn't breath. She could only manage a weak "sorry" before she turned and ran down the hallway. As she reached the stairs, she heard Cedric call her name from the door, but she didn't turn around. She couldn't. All she could see was Cedric's and Cho's lips meshing together.

All her friends were in the common room when she burst through the portrait hole. She hadn't realized she had started to cry until they all started freaking out. Patricia and Bree got her up to their room and laid her in her bed. They kept asking her what was wrong, but Lexi still couldn't speak: the shock was still too strong. Eventually they left her and she cried herself to sleep, the whole while picturing Cedric shouting her own name while kissing Cho.


	4. Killer Silencing Charm

The train ride back to Kings Cross Station wasn't nearly long enough. Lexi had her own compartment as there were so few people returning this year. By the time she felt the train slow to a stop, she knew how her feelings towards Cedric had changed. She did like him, Bree and all her friends were right. There was no denying that fact now, not after how she reacted last night. She said before that she was not jealous of Cho. That was wrong now too. Lexi was insanely jealous of Cho. Just the thought of her touching Cedric made something roar inside of her.

But what haunted her most during her first week home was the memory of Cedric's expression when he realized Lexi was standing there watching him. She couldn't understand it. He looked terrified more than surprised, like her presence at that moment scared him. It made no sense. His life was his own, and he shouldn't care what she thought, especially since their friendship was only a week old.

Christmas day was the worst. All Lexi could think about was the Yule Ball and Cho coming down the grand staircase as Cedric looked at her in awe. She didn't have her usual enthusiasm about opening presents, and her parents started to worry about her. She hated people worrying about her; she was a big girl, who could handle things by herself. Assistance was not welcome in her world, which is why, when she noticed there was a letter from Cedric among her other presents, she burned his letter. Lexi had not the curiosity enough to open it before throwing it in the flames because the sight she saw her last night at Hogwarts was enough for her. She didn't want his sympathy or apology or whatever the letter contained.

"Lexi!" her mother's voice echoed around the house the day after Christmas. Lexi looked at her clock and noticed it was already two in the afternoon; she hadn't meant to sleep so late.

Then her mother opened the bedroom door. "Lexi, Bree is in the fire place. Don't make her wait."

Lexi bustled out of bed to answer her friend's floo call. Bree's head was dancing in the flame as she entered the room. Her parents were no where to be seen, and she assumed they had cleared out of the living room to give her some privacy.

"Lexi!" Bree squealed as she approached.

"Hey, Bree." Lexi tried to match her enthusiasm, but it didn't work. She saw Bree's face turn into a frown; that girl missed nothing. But surprisingly, Bree didn't comment.

"I thought you might want an update on the Yule Ball. You really missed a great party. I wish you had been there."

Lexi's curiosity perked up. She didn't really care about the ball, per say, but about Cedric and Cho at the ball.

"Everyone was gorgeous of course. Dumbledore got the Weird Sisters to play!"

Lexi merely smiled and nodded through out Bree's update. Occasionally she would throw in a "really?" or a "that's cool." It wasn't until Bree mentioned Cedric that she really started listening.

"And I'm sure you want to know all about your new friend Diggory." Bree rolled her eyes. "I must admit he was extremely hot. Cho looked nice too. They seemed to be having fun together and I think they are officially dating now, but I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Lexi replied morosely. She didn't try to hide it from Bree; she could tell Bree had already put the puzzle pieces together.

"Well, it was almost midnight and I was getting punch, and then Cedric comes up and asks me if I've talked to you since you left."

Lexi felt her heart pick up speed. "What did you say?"

"I said no, of course, but then he asked me to tell you that he needs to talk to you and that it's important."

"You can tell him that I don't want to talk to him."

"I'm not going to do that, Lex. He seemed pretty upset about it."

"Fine, I'll talk to him."

"Lexi, what's going on?"

"And I'll talk to you when I get back to school." Lexi saw Bree give her an angry look. "I promise."

"Alright. See you in a week." Bree sighed in resignation and disappeared from the flames.

Unlike the first week of break, the last week went by way too fast. Lexi was dreading having to see Cedric and Cho holding hands and doing all the things official couples do. The image made her sick.

But returning to school was inevitable. Lexi decided she would just have to avoid Cedric as much as possible. It wouldn't be hard; she had managed it all these years. Although, Cedric wanting to see her was a definite problem. The only way around it would be to hide out in Gryffindor Tower as much as possible.

So as soon as she entered the castle that night, Lexi went as fast as possible without running up to the seventh floor. She was out of breath when she got to the Fat Lady's portrait and entered the common room. She immediately saw Patricia and Angelina walking up the stairs to the boys dormitory. Angelina caught sight of her and waved her up.

Fred, George, Lee, Alicia, Bree, Patricia and Angelina were all sprawled across the various surfaces of the four-bedded room when Lexi came in.

"Lexi!" they all welcomed her back.

"You missed one hell of a night, Lex." Lee told her.

"I heard." Lexi sat down next to Bree and let her put her arms around her in a hug.

Fred and George got up at the same time. "Who's ready for a party of our own?" George asked as he crouched under his bed. He and Fred pulled out several butterbeers and bags upon bags of sweets. They all howled in delight and dug right in.

"Where's Kenneth?" Alicia asked sometime later. Lexi looked at the clock and saw that it was already past midnight

"Oh. We locked him out." Fred said with a smile.

"I didn't hear him try to come in." Patricia pointed out.

George punched Fred in the shoulder. "Told you I could do a killer silencing charm."

"Aww, poor Kenneth." Lexi said as they all laughed.

Fred scoffed, "Look whose talking. The poor boy has been trying to mend his broken heart since _you_ turned down his Yule Ball invitation."

Lexi frowned, not wanting to be reminded, but knew it was all in good fun…until she saw the familiar twinkle is Bree's eyes.

"Speaking of which, did you ever talk to Diggory?"

All eyes were anxiously awaiting for Lexi's reply. Bree obviously couldn't keep her mouth shut. "I just got back!"

"Are you going to, though?"

"Why should I? He's with Cho now, so there really is nothing to discuss."

"I knew you liked him." Patricia gave her a sly smile.

"So what if I do. It doesn't matter." Lexi stuffed the last Cauldron Cake in her mouth, giving her an excuse not to talk. She sensed that the mood of the group had went from teasing to sympathetic. Lexi didn't like it. "Look. It really doesn't matter. Its just a silly crush. I'll get over it soon. Don't worry about me. Come on, let's not ruin this party."

She threw one of the few remaining Chocolate Frogs at George, who was sitting across from her. He batted it out of the way so it hit Patricia squarely in the face. Everyone burst out laughing at her expression, and the good mood returned.


	5. Stormy Gray

The next morning, Lexi woke up with what felt like a brick in her stomach. She knew she couldn't avoid first period Charms, which meant she couldn't avoid Cedric. Thankfully, she had Fred, George, Bree, and Alicia in that class with her; they would help her, they promised.

Just as she predicted, Cedric was waiting for her outside the Charms classroom. His eyes grew as he took in her flanking. With her four friends at her side, and Bree shooting him warnings with her eyes, he didn't say anything, but filed into class after them. After class, Lexi hurried up to Gryffindor Tower before Cedric could catch up with her.

She was able to keep up the act for longer than she expected. She had at least one friend in every class…except Arithmancy. Lexi had Arithmancy on Thursdays and Fridays, so after her Ancient Runes class on Thursday, she knew she couldn't put off Cedric for another minute.

Cedric didn't even wait until they got to the classroom. He chased her out of the Ancient Runes room after Patricia left for her free period. Lexi heard him run up behind her and tried to stay calm.

"Been avoiding me, huh?" his soft voice was close to her ear. "Did you get my letter?"

"No." she lied.

"Oh."

"What did you want to talk to me about, Cedric?"

"So Bree did give you my message."

"Yes."

"And you still -"

"Get to the point, Diggory."

"I don't have a point. I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Why haven't you been coming to the study group this week?"

"Because I wanted to spend time with my friends." she emphasized friends. "I haven't been able to see them a lot lately."

"So you'll come back now?"

"No."

Cedric didn't say anything; he continued to walk with her until they arrived at the Arithmancy classroom. Lexi went to sit at her normal desk, but Cedric sat next to her instead of his normal seat.

Lexi gave an exasperated sigh. "Are you still dating Cho?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends."

He looked at her, and she returned it. His eyes were not the clear gray they used to be. There was a storm in there: confusion, frustration, turmoil. She saw in his eyes that she was causing him pain. The storm was her fault. Even if he didn't feel the same way about her, she couldn't stand seeing that.

They didn't talk for the rest of the class and Cho was waiting for Cedric when they got out so she could walk to dinner with him.

"I guess I'll see you tonight, Diggory." Lexi said before leaving.

"What's with all the 'Diggory' nonsense?" he asked her, looking relieved, as Cho took his hand. Lexi couldn't tell if the relief came from her words or Cho's touch, but she did notice Cho look at him suspiciously while he was teasing her.

"Go to dinner." Lexi turned in the opposite direction, back to Gryffindor Tower to get some homework in before dinner.

Cho was still sitting at the Ravenclaw table when Lexi went down to dinner with Bree, although Cedric was no where in sight. Bree noticed her looking over at Cho.

"Jealous?"

"Of her?" Lexi scoffed. "Hardly."

"I don't believe you at all."

"It's true. The only thing I would be jealous of is Cedric being in her life, and I've already got that." she said resolutely, and then added when Bree raised an eyebrow, "Maybe not in the same way…"

"If you say so."

Despite the confidence she had in what she said, Lexi was still slightly jealous, and that jealousy bounced around inside her, driving her nuts until she finally cracked.

"Bree? How much do you know about Cho?" Lexi watched as Cho got out of her seat and left the Great Hall.

A smug smile came across Bree's face. "Not much, but I can snoop around if you want."

"Well…"

"Consider it done." Bree concluded before Lexi could stop her.

Lexi entered the third floor classroom only to be momentarily stunned that another person had joined their ranks. Cho sat beside Cedric on the floor.

"Hey, Lexi!" Nick Hornsby waved for her to take a seat. "Haven't seen you around here lately."

"I'm here now." she sat in her usual spot beside Cedric. Once again, she noticed Cho give Cedric a suspicious look and grasp his arm tighter.

Lexi didn't know why Cho was there. All they were going to do was work on the overly large amount of homework Professor Vector assigned them in Arithmancy that day, and Cho wasn't in Arithmancy, much less N.E.W.T. level Arithmancy. But Cho found something to do. She occupied herself by occupying Cedric. Lexi could tell he didn't like her bothering him while he was doing his homework, but being Cedric, he didn't say anything. Cho asked him silly questions about Arithmancy, giggled too much, and made sure his attention was always on her instead of the girl to his right.

"Lexi, how do you do number eight?" Cedric leaned towards her to look at her parchment.

"You're only on eight?" Lexi taunted, glancing down at the thirty five questions printed in the book.

Cedric rolled his eyes toward Cho. Lexi shook her head, but handed him her parchment. "Here. Catch up."

"You are my absolute favorite person." he smiled his dazzling smile, making her heart momentarily falter. Cho, however, frowned.

"Cedric," she whined, tugging on his arm, "Can't you finish all this tomorrow? You have practically all day free. I want to spend some time with you."

Lexi gritted her teeth. She knew that was coming, and she knew Cedric would agree to it. He handed her back her long roll of parchment with an apologetic look and left with Cho.

That was the last night Cedric showed up regularly to the study groups. Lexi kept coming in the hope that Cedric would show up Cho-less, but that was a rare occurrence. Around the end of January and the beginning of February, Lexi stopped showing up regularly as well.


	6. Clue Me In

"I have some news for you." Bree sang as she and Lexi walked into the common room one night in early February. "It's about my investigation of Cho?"

"Investigation?" Lexi raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Whatever. What do you have for me?"

"My sources tell me that Cho's relationship with Cedric is on the rocks right now. He doesn't like how clingy she is."

"I don't doubt that." Lexi nodded in agreement. "Have you seen her?"

"Yes. It's gross. So much tongue action, although I heard most of that comes from Cedric." Bree gave her a sly smile.

"Ugh. I did not need to know that."

"Sorry." she didn't sound sorry.

"Continue."

"Alright. Along with quidditch, Cho is also in the Charm club, which meets every other Tuesday night, and the Wizard/Muggle Alliance Society, which meets every Monday between six and seven."

"Interesting." Lexi turned around and headed for the portrait hole.

"Where are you going?" Bree called after her.

"It's Monday." she called over her shoulder.

Lexi knew Cedric never went to the Monday night study group anymore, so she thought she might find him in the library, and she was right. He was sitting alone at the farthest table from the entrance.

"Hey, Cedric." she called in a hushed voice as she approached him. Cedric jumped at the suddenness of her voice breaking the silence.

"Oh. Hey, Lex." he settled back into his seat. "Why aren't you with the group?"

"I could ask you the same question." she sat down across from him.

He didn't respond to that. Lexi saw that he had shadows under his eyes from a lack of sleep and he had a little stubble over his usually smooth face.

"Where's Cho?" she asked casually.

"She's at one of her clubs."

"Cedric, are you okay? You look awful." she teased.

"I feel awful. And I'm so far behind on homework because Cho never gives me a moments peace. And then there's the tournament…"

"Do you want me to leave? If you need quiet -"

"No. You can stay." he sounded miserable.

"Did you figure out the clue from the egg?"

"Oh yeah. I got that a long time ago."

"Oh."

"But I still have no idea what to do. I can't think of anything."

"Well that's great, Diggory. Can you be a little more vague?"

Cedric chuckled. A real chuckle, not strained by stress. She loved being the person to bring about that reaction. "I figured out that we have an hour to find the Merpeople in the Black Lake and recover something that we would 'sorely miss.'"

"Okay. What's the problem?" Lexi was overjoyed that he was telling her this even though it was against tournament rules and she was considered a Harry Potter ally because of her Gryffindor status.

"The whole being under water for an hour part."

"Are you serious? Just use the bubble-head charm."

He stared at her with his jaw dropped. "I'm an idiot. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You're welcome."

He beamed at her. "Thanks. That's a load off my mind."

He looked back down at his parchment in front of him that only had one paragraph of Potions theory on it.

"Do you want to see mine?" Lexi offered sympathetically.

"Could I?" he tried to hide the desperateness in his voice.

She laughed and pulled her essay out of her bag.

"This is why I love you, Lex. We make a good team, huh?"

"Yeah." He had no idea how good. But she noticed Cho approaching their table out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, just get it back to me before class." she told him, standing up and shouldering her bag.

"You're leaving?"

Lexi looked at Cho as she approached. Cedric followed her gaze and realization dawned on him.

"See you later then."

As Lexi retreated from their table, she heard Cho asking Cedric "What was she doing here?"

Lexi rushed up to Gryffindor Tower where she found Angelina, Patricia, and Alicia pouring over their Transfiguration books, trying to finish the essay McGonagall assigned. But she wasn't in the mood for girl talk. Instead she headed up to the boys room and found Fred and George analyzing a flesh colored length of string. At least she thought it was string.

"Hey, Lexi." they said as she entered.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking over their shoulders to see. George was holding the long object out and it trailed into Fred's hands, where it ended with what looked like an ear. "What is that?"

"We call them extendable ears. Came up with the idea over break." Fred informed her.

George continued. "After we finish with them, they will allow you to hear conversations taking place in a different room."

"Oh, put me down for a box." Lexi touched the fleshy ear. It felt rubbery.

"Good. You'll be second on the list. Right after Bree." George handed her the order form.

Lexi laughed. "Figures."

"We'll give you a discount for being cool, too." Fred added. Lexi signed her name and gave back the order form.

"So, what do we owe this lovely visit to?"

"Help." Lexi told them as she collapsed onto George's bed.

"With Cedric?" Fred sat next to her, winding the extendable ear around his hand.

"Yeah. Why is he even dating Cho? She's obviously not right for him."

Fred put the ear in its box. "That's a matter of opinion, and you're biased."

"Very biased, because you're in love with him." George said from where he leaned against the bed pole.

"What?!"

"Yes, my little friend, love." Fred took another extendable ear out of the box. He gave his brother a nod in a way that only George would know its meaning, and George changed his stance, pulling Lexi off the bed and leading her to the door.

"What are you doing?" she asked before he shut the door in her face. "Hey!"

"Keep talking." George told her. She could tell it was him because he spoke faster than Fred. "Except whisper."

"Why are you surprised that you love him?" Fred asked as a topic for her to talk about.

"I don't!" she shouted.

"Ow!"

"Whisper." Fred reminded her.

Lexi huffed, but obeyed. "I don't. It's just a crush, but he's making it hard for me to get over him."

"It worked!" George shouted in triumph. He opened the door to let Lexi back in, with a huge smile on his face. Behind him, Fred was doing a celebration dance.

"Please clue me in." Lexi demanded.

"We heard you're whisper from across the room and through the door!"

"Our first big success!" Fred swooped in to give her a giant hug.

"That's awesome!" Lexi was taken by surprise, but returned the hug quickly.

Fred pushed her back with his hands holding her shoulders. "And to answer you, you do love him, and the sooner you figure that out for yourself, the sooner you can win him over. Now go sleep on that."

"By tomorrow, you'll be thanking us." George and Fred lead her to the door and all but kicked her out. Before shutting the door, George added, "Oh yeah. Spread the word about the extendable ears. Nice doing business with you."

They shut the door in her face for the second time in five minutes. Lexi looked at the wooden door for a moment in shock before huffing back down the stairs to go to her own room. She had gone to the twins so they could help make it easier, but all they did was make it more complicated. The thought of love had never occurred to her until now; she had never been in love before; she didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. But if this feeling was love, she didn't like it. Constant pain and jealousy were not what she thought of when she thought about love.

She laid down in her bed and covered her head with the blankets. Maybe she was looking at this the wrong way. She tried to analyze what she felt like when she was alone with Cedric: comfortable, happy, safe, free, and every other good feeling that can't be described in words. Then it hit her; she was in love with Cedric Diggory.


	7. Take A Chance

Lexi loved Hogsmeade weekends. It was a day to get free of the constricting walls of the school, a day to stock up on candy and snack supplies, and, on this particular weekend, a day to spend time with the person you love. It was Valentines weekend, and the only problem Lexi found was the person she loved was with someone else. But she agreed to go with Bree and Patricia even though she knew she would probably see Cedric and Cho doing things she didn't want to think about.

Bree and Patricia tried their best to keep her mind from wandering over to Cedric while they were walking the long road down to the gates that opened up to Hogsmeade village.

"Any chance of convincing you two to go into the Shrieking Shack with me?" Bree smiled her devious smile. She asked them this every time, and every time she got the same resounding…

"No."

"Come on! Take a chance." Bree pressured. She looked longingly at the dilapidated building a block off of High Street.

"Fred and George already said they tried to get in, Bree. If they can't, we certainly can't." Patricia reasoned. "Let's just go to the Three Broomsticks."

Bree elbowed Patricia in the side, and whispered, trying not to let Lexi overhear, "Tricia, that's a perfect date place."

"Actually," Patricia amended, "I need a new quill. Let's go to Scrivenshaft's."

But their attempts at being subtle were in vain. Not only had Lexi heard them, but she also saw two figures off in the distance: a tall sandy-haired boy, holding the hand of a girl with long raven-black hair.

"Cedric and Cho aren't going to the pub." Lexi pointed morosely over to where she saw them walking far beyond the famous inn. "They're probably going to Madame Puddifoot's."

"Now I really feel sorry for Cedric." Bree joked.

"Three Broomsticks?" Lexi asked.

Both her friends nodded and they continued walking to the pub.

"Keep in mind that I really do need a new quill." Patricia told them before entering, keeping up the joking ambiance that Bree started.

After filling their pockets with as much Honeydukes sweets as possible, the three of them went to Zonkos Joke Shop to buy Fred and George birthday presents. They continued down High Street to Gladrags Wizardwear and into Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, all the while Lexi was thinking about how close they were getting to the turnoff to Madame Puddifoot's.

As they made their way back from Dervish and Banges, Lexi caught sight of them coming off the side street. But this time Cedric caught sight of her too. He immediately dragged Cho over to meet them.

"Uh-oh." Patricia muttered as they approached.

"Hey, Lexi, Bree, Patricia. Fancy seeing you here." Cedric greeted them.

"Yes, fancy that." Bree said sarcastically, but Cedric didn't catch the cadence in her voice.

Cho looked so awkward that Lexi almost pitied her…until she started tugging Cedric away, whispering something about wanting to go to Gladrags. But Cedric stood firm and she couldn't budge him.

"I hope you'll start coming to the study group regularly again, Lex. I know I haven't been very good about it lately, but I'm going to start going again." Cedric explained.

"Cedric, you said you would start coming to my clubs with me. You promised." Cho whimpered, trying to gain his attention again.

"We've already discussed this, Cho. Not again, please." Cedric told her as nicely as he could, but Lexi saw right through to his annoyance.

"That's quite rude, Diggory." Bree was smiling slyly. She must have been put in a better, more teasing mood at the sight of Cedric and Cho arguing. "Are Tricia and I not welcome to these high-class events?"

Cedric had tensed when she started, but his expression became joking when he understood what she was getting at. "Of course you're welcome, Bree, but I don't know about you, Patricia. Lexi says you wouldn't appreciate our group as much as others."

Patricia frowned between Cedric and Lexi. "Why is that?" she asked suspiciously.

Lexi noticed Cho getting restless, but Cedric continued. "I'll let Lexi clue you in on that."

"Thanks a lot." Lexi rolled her eyes.

"Any time." Cedric smiled.

"Lexi, you better tell me what you two are talking about. What are you doing?"

At that point, Cho had had enough. She gave a giant tug on Cedric's arm and he almost toppled over on top of her. "Cedric, I really need to go."

"Alright." he resigned, then turned to Lexi. "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Cedric and Cho walked off, and Bree, Lexi and Patricia followed slowly behind them on their way back up to Hogwarts, while Patricia badgered her endlessly about the activities that went on in the study group. Lexi finally broke down when they walked past the Three Broomsticks again.

"Cheating?!" Patricia hissed through her teeth. "Lexi, you could get expelled for that!"

"Will you calm down, Tricia. It's not really cheating." she tried to explain. "We're simply… collaborating."

Patricia scowled at her. But Bree was laughing.

"This study group keeps getting better and better. I'm coming with you next time."

That next Monday, Bree did indeed join in on the study group. That night they all worked on the Charms essay that Professor Flitwick assigned that day in class.

"Wow." Bree remarked before she left. "I didn't know homework could actually be fun."

"It's just a matter of environment." Nick Hornsby said. He had taken an obvious liking to Bree's sense of humor, and the two of them left the room together, talking about Charms theory.

Lexi was about to follow them when Cedric called her back in.

"What?" she asked him as the last person exited the room. They were alone.

"I need your help, but I was too embarrassed to ask before."

She waited for him to continue.

"Remember how you suggested I use the bubble-head charm for the second task?"

"Yeah."

"Um…well…you see, I'm not very… good… at it."

Lexi burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh. It's embarrassing." he crossed his arms over his chest as though he was angry.

"I'm sorry." she tried to sound sincere, but the laughter kept coming up.

"It's not funny, Lex. If you're not going to help, you can leave."

"No, no, I'll help you. It's just that you can do some of the most advanced charms I've ever seen, Cedric, but you can't do the bubble-head charm? It makes no sense."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."

"Take it how you want. It'll be a compliment when I'm finished with you. Now take out your wand, and show me what you can do."

He obeyed, swishing his wand, and what looked like an upside-down goldfish bowl appeared around his head.

"It looks fine to me." Lexi told him, confused.

"That's not the problem. It's supposed to give me a clean supply of air, but -" he started choking, like he ran out of air in his goldfish bowl.

Panicked, Lexi flicked her wand quickly and the bubble surrounding his face vanished.

Cedric panted for breath. "Thanks."

"Don't do that again." Her heart was still raising.

"Help."

"I don't know how to fix that."

"Let me show you step by step what I'm doing."

"Okay, but hold your breath this time."

He nodded and swished his wand again, saying the incantation out loud. When the bubble appeared, she asked "Do you have air supply. Shake yes or no."

He took a breath and then shook his head. He swished his wand and the bubble disappeared.

"I don't know, Cedric. You're saying the right incantation. Try it again."

They repeated this several times, playing around with the pronunciation of the incantation, the angle he was holding his wand, etc. At one point, he said the incantation, annunciating each syllable as slow and as clear and as sharp as he could, and a black garbage bag appeared on his head. It wasn't until about the eleventh practice run that Lexi noticed it.

"Stop!" she yelled.

Cedric flicked his wand to make the bubble vanish. "What is it?"

"Your wand. You're flicking it the wrong way."

"What do you mean. It's a quick flick, right?"

"Yes, but you're flicking it into your body. You're supposed to flick away, that's what makes this movement special."

He tried again, flicking his wand sharply away from his body. The bubble appeared and he inhaled.

"It works!" he laughed excitedly. Suddenly his arms were around her, pressing her face into his chest. He removed the bubble-head charm and his laughter echoed around the room. "Thanks, Lex."

Then his face was centimeters away from her own, his hands gripping her upper arms. She hadn't expected this. His lips crushed into hers, moving them in unfamiliar ways. But she liked it -- no, she loved it. His lips were soft against her own, and she felt his tongue outlining the contours of her lower lip. She sighed, allowing his tongue entrance, where it tangled with hers. Bree had been right after all.

She never imagined it could feel this good. In her dreams, she always wished Cedric would get rid of Cho so he could do this to her.

And then like a battering ram smashing into her, the magic was over because she realized this was so much worse than her dreams. Cho was still there; she was still with Cedric, and she, Lexi, was helping him commit a terrible sin.

Lexi pushed him away with so much force that he toppled over and sank against the wall.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." she whispered, trying to catch her breath.

Cedric was out of breath too, but that also might have been the shock of the force against the wall. But he pulled himself up right and held out his arms to her, confused. She backed away.

"Lexi…" he took another step closer. She continued to back away.

"Cho." she reminded him. His hands dropped to his side and he backed away from her into the wall, half confused, half horrified.

"I'm… sorry." he mumbled.

"I have to go." Lexi hurried out of the room and flat out ran toward Gryffindor Tower.


	8. Completeness

It was easy to avoid Cedric this time because he seemed to be doing the same thing. As much as she still loved him, Lexi didn't want to talk to him unless the words coming out of his mouth were 'I broke up with Cho to be with you.' But he didn't seem inclined to say those words anytime soon. She still saw him walking the halls with Cho's hand in his, and it made Lexi want to hurl for three reasons. First, Cho seemed to have a smug smile plastered on her face where ever she went. Second, she was mad at Cedric. Third, she was mad at herself for allowing this to happen. But what hurt the most was knowing she could never have him because he still chose Cho over her after everything that happened.

As a means to not feel the pain as much, Lexi employed Fred and George to help her find alternate routes to class so she didn't have to see him. They were more than willing to help, and even offered to beat Cedric up. She wouldn't let them, though. And to her luck, Cedric stopped going to the study group altogether, which was good because Lexi had to accompany Bree there every night since Bree developed a crush on Nick Hornsby.

The second tasks took place nine days after she ran out on Cedric. Lexi opted not to go and no one argued with her. Instead she stayed in her room and slept. It was hard because she could still hear the cheering students down below by the Black Lake through the windows. In no time at all, the cheering sounds of the crowd outside disappeared and then came in greater volume a few stories below her in the Gryffindor common room. Apparently, Harry did well.

Bree opened the door to their room and sat beside Lexi.

"Do you want to know what happened?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Sure." Lexi sat up beside her and leaned against the head board.

Bree told her the story. Lexi interrupted once when she got to the part about what each contestant used to breath.

"Did it work?"

"What?"

"Did his bubble-head charm work the first time he tried?" Lexi repeated the question more clearly.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it?" Bree looked at her oddly.

Lexi shrugged and let her continue. When Bree got to the part about Cedric saving Cho, Lexi didn't say anything.

"Nick asked me out." Bree added at the end.

"Really? That's great, Bree."

"He said he would talk to Cedric."

"He shouldn't."

"No. He wants to. You're his friend too, Lex."

"That's nice of him." Lexi tried to sound like she meant it, but it came out monotonous.

And the days passed monotonously as well. February quickly dissolved into March, and March into April. By the end of April, Lexi's grades were better than they had ever been before. The teachers were actually complimenting her instead of arguing or yelling at her. The truth was all she did was study because she didn't know what else to do. She was more focused than ever because any daydreaming usually wandered off into unwanted memories.

Bree sensed that Lexi did not want any news or gossip about Cedric, so for the first time in her life she stopped looking for such things. Lexi appreciated that more than anything.

"Top marks, Ms. Beckham. Very Good." Professor Vector handed Lexi back her essay during a Friday class at the beginning of May. Lexi still wasn't used to Professor Vector smiling at her even though it happened often now. There was a big E at the top of her paper.

"Thank you." Lexi whispered politely.

"Class dismissed." Professor Vector then announced.

Lexi pulled her bag off the floor and shouldered it, stuffing the essay inside. The halls were quiet when she left the room until an all too familiar voice broke it from behind her.

"Lexi?"

Lexi turned around to look at Cedric. She saw Nick Hornsby and a couple of the other people from the study group look between her and Cedric before continuing down the corridor. She didn't say anything, she couldn't say anything as he approached her.

"Lexi, I…" he seemed at a loss for words. "Can you come with me?"

She still couldn't say anything so she just nodded her head. He lead her down the corridor and down a flight of stairs to the third floor. Cedric quickly unlocked the unused classroom and opened the door for her. He shut the door behind him and turned to look at her. She could tell he was anxious; he opened his mouth to say something and closed it several times.

"What is it, Cedric?" Lexi tried to keep her voice calm.

"I'm sorry." he told her plainly. "For everything."

Lexi didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you and I'm sorry that I let this go on as long as it did. But I can't do it anymore, Lex. I can't." his eyes were pleading with her now.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't not be with you. And you can hate me as much as you want, but please, please talk to me."

She found it hard to swallow. Everything had taken such a quick turn. This morning she woke up thinking today would be like any other day, but now this was happening. Now she could only tell him the truth.

"I don't hate you, Cedric."

"Don't say that. Please don't say that. I deserve to be hated."

"Why should I hate you?"

"Because I should have broken up with Cho a long time ago."

"Have you?"

His tortured expression turned into confusion. "You didn't know? I broke up with her a week after the second task."

That answer shocked her; it was so long ago. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you hated me after what I did. I wanted to give you space."

"I never wanted space." It was a split second decision she made while saying the words. In less than a second she was right in front of him, her body pressed against his as she reached on her toes to join her lips with his. In the remaining time in that second, Cedric responded, putting his arms around her waist and pressing her closer to him. The suddenness of the impact sent them staggering, and Lexi found her back pinned against the wall. She used the wall and his hold on her to push herself up and put her face at his level, making it easier for them.

Once again, his tongue drew lines around her lips and she didn't hesitate to let him in. She realized then, while their tongues twisted together, that he was hers. She didn't need to hear the words when he broke away and whispered in her ear, "I love you." She knew that already in his kiss.

But that is when everything disconnected. She no longer had control over what she was doing. Her hands moved down his neck and unbuttoned his robes and they fell to the floor with a sweep. He pressed her tighter up against the wall so she wouldn't fall when he removed his hands from around her. They helped each other take off their clothes. It was a long process and they both cursed the person who chose the Hogwarts uniforms. Cedric took hold of her again and brought her gently to the floor. They looked into each others eyes for a long moment, his clear gray connecting with her dark chocolate. Her hands drifted through his tangled hair, and he was suddenly inside of her. The pain of his entrance was quickly overshadowed by pleasure, so much pleasure. She couldn't breath.

"Why today?" she asked him softly sometime later as they lay wrapped around each other under his cloak. Her hands ran across his cheeks and through his hair as his drew patterns up and down her side.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you choose to come to me today?"

He chuckled. She loved the deep bubbly sound. "You'll love this. Do you have a piece of paper?"

Lexi nodded and reached for her bag, not caring that her chest was completely exposed. She took out her notebook, quill, and ink and handed them to him.

"Do you remember our first Arithmancy lesson back in third year?" he asked as he turned onto his stomach and placed the notebook on the floor.

"Yes." she mimicked his pose.

He wrote out his name: C-E-D-R-I-C D-I-G-G-O-R-Y. Underneath each letter he wrote a number: 3-5-4-9-9-3 4-9-7-7-6-9-7. She knew what he was doing immediately and giggled. He then wrote her name: L-E-X-I B-E-C-K-H-A-M. And the numbers: 3-5-6-9 2-5-3-2-8-1-4.

"Mine's forty eight." she told him to spare him the math. He wrote out 48 beside hers and 82 beside his. Under that he wrote 'Character', 'Heart', and 'Social'.

He put the numbers 1, 2, and 8 respectively under his name, and quickly did the math for hers before writing 3, 2, and 1.

"My character number is one, so I'm supposed to be independent, a leader." he explained, pointing his quill at the character numbers. "Yours is three, a number of completeness."

He moved the quill to the heart numbers. "Both of our heart numbers are two, so we have the same things in our hearts. And two is the number of cooperation and balance, commitment and loyalty."

He moved the quill to the final row. "And our social numbers add up to nine, the most complete number."

He put the quill down and put his arms around her, pulling her closer. "You see, Lex. We belong together."

Lexi giggled again. "Did you figure this out today?"

"While Professor Vector was lecturing." he admitted.

She leaned in and kissed him softly, murmuring 'I love you's against his lips.


	9. Mr Cuddles

"What was that about?" Lexi asked Cedric as they walked out onto the lawns with lunch sandwiches in their hands. A Ravenclaw girl in the Entrance Hall had just asked him where Cho was. Cedric had stiffened when the girl looked at him expectantly.

"I have no idea." Cedric replied to Lexi's question, taking her hand. "I guess Cho didn't spread the news of our breakup the way she did when we first started going out."

"It's been like three months." she pointed out, skeptically accepting his explanation.

"I don't know, Lex. Does it really matter?" he dropped his bag by the side of the lake. They had decided to have lunch outside on that fine May afternoon because the day was too nice to miss out on. The sun shined down on the water and bounced onto them from the facets of the waves.

"Yes. Don't you want people to know you're with me now?" Lexi knew she shouldn't be, but she felt a little hurt.

"Not really, to be perfectly honest." he saw her head bow down to look at her hands, her eyes full of sadness and confusion. Cedric stretched out his arms and pulled Lexi into his chest. "That's not what I meant. All I'm saying is that I have the spotlight on me enough, and I'd rather keep my private life private."

"A little conceited, don't you think?" she muttered into his chest, playfully slapping him. "You're not that great. Harry is so much cooler."

"Then go date him." he chuckled, fiddling with her hair with one hand while holding his half eaten sandwich in the other.

"No, thanks. I kind of love my narcissistic boyfriend."

"Good. Oh!" he exclaimed.

"What?" The sudden change in his voice made Lexi jump.

"Sorry. I just remembered that I have something to tell you."

"Do tell."

"You know McGonagall held me back after class."

"I was wondering when you were going to tell me about this." Lexi situated herself back against his chest, pulling his arm around her. She heard him sigh in contentment.

"I have to meet Bagman tonight so he can tell us about the third task."

"That's good. You can start prepping for it."

"I'll need your help on that. Can you meet me on the third floor tonight?"

"Of course. Do I need to bring extra clothes?" she smiled to herself. It wasn't uncommon since they started dating for them to spend the night in their third floor classroom. She felt his lips twist up in a smile as well from where they were pressed on top of her head.

"I guess. But it's probably not necessary since you don't have class until second period."

"You're such a boy." she teased, shoving his face away.

Lexi returned to the Gryffindor common room after dinner. She still had a few hours before she had to meet Cedric and she wasn't quite finished with her Care of Magical Creatures homework. Bree was sitting in one of the cushion chairs by the fire, reading.

"Hey." Lexi sat in the chair next to hers.

"Oh, hey." Bree's voice was lethargic, an oddity.

"Something wrong?"

"Not really. Just a lot of little things."

"Like?"

"Nick and I got in a fight. It was stupid, but he's being weird now. I think I'm going to fail the Transfigurations final. And then my cramps are killing me." Bree listed off.

"I don't know what to say about Nick, but I can help you in Transfigurations and you need to exercise more to have less painful cramps. I didn't even feel mine this time."

"Yours starts next week." Bree frowned. They always remembered each others cycles because Bree was one week ahead of Lexi.

"I know, but I get cramps early."

"Ha ha." Bree mock laughed, her usual enthusiasm seeping through her gloom. Then she gave Lexi a sly smile. "But God knows you get way too much exercise nowadays."

Lexi slapped her on the arm, but didn't argue. It was true.

As Lexi walked through the corridors, trying to balance herself under the weight of her bag, which was stuffed to the brim with her clothes and all her books, she thought about two facts that Bree pointed out that put together could potentially be a nightmare. But she didn't have time to think too deeply into it because Cedric was approaching her from the opposite end of the corridor.

He looked at her with his brow furrowed and a glint of tease in his eyes. "What's with the library?" he took her bag from her and draped the strap over his much stronger shoulder.

"Thanks. They're for you, stupid."

"You have no idea what the task is."

"Yeah, that's why I brought all the books."

Cedric chuckled as he unlocked the door and held it open for her. She looked at him as he shut and relocked the door.

"What do you think Professor Sprout would do if she knew what that key was really being used for?"

He pocketed the key before pulling her to him and kissing her roughly, shoving her back against the wall. Once satisfied, he pulled away to answer, "You mean after expelling us for vandalizing private property?"

"Could they do anything else?"

"Maybe tell our parents."

Lexi grimaced at that prospect. "Lets try to avoid that, then."

"Deal."

"Tell me. What's the third task?"

She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs. Cedric sat in the same manner, facing her.

"A maze." he told her simply.

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"With all sorts of dangerous creatures and spells roaming around in it."

"Great. So its like the Minotaur times one hundred."

"That sounds about right. But the worst part is they completely ruined the quidditch pitch to make it!"

Lexi rolled her eyes and chose to ignore the last comment. "You are very lucky I thought to bring my Care of Magical Creatures book." she pulled the huge fanged book out of her bag. Cedric took her bag and looked in it.

"How did you fit all your books in here?"

"An extension charm."

"I don't know why you did. I wasn't planning on practicing for the tournament." he raised an eyebrow.

"You could have told me that before I broke my back carrying all that down here!"

"I'm sorry." he took her hand, throwing her book aside, and pulled her on top of him as he laid his back on the floor.

"I think I can forgive you," she muttered as he kissed up and down her neck, "if…"

"If?"

She looked down at him mischievously. "If you make hot passionate love to me."

"I think I can do that." he pulled her face to his and kissed her. The kiss didn't break until Cedric yelled out in pain. Lexi pulled back hastily.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bite so hard."

Cedric didn't answer; his eyes were closed tight, and his face was contorted in pain. He sat up, with Lexi on his lap, and bent around her to hit something. That's when Lexi noticed her book, _The Monster Book of Monsters_, was latched onto Cedric's leg with it's fangs cutting into his pants. Cedric tried to beat it off, but it wasn't budging. Lexi couldn't help it; she burst out laughing.

"Lex!" Cedric tried to pry the book open. "This isn't funny!" But he had succumb to laughter too.

She quickly reached over and stroked the spine of the book. Its teeth loosened its hold on his leg and Cedric was able to kick it away.

"It's all about being gentle."

"Yeah, tell me that after it takes my leg off." he pulled off his shoe and threw it to the book. It immediately chased after it and started chewing on it, sufficiently distracted.

"Let's call it…Mr. Cuddles."

But she never found out if he approved of the book's new name or not because a second later his lips were crushing hers, and she was curling into his chest.


	10. Protector

"Bree!!"

"Lexi?!" Bree hurried to the dorm bathroom just as the door opened and Lexi stepped out, completely panicked. "Lexi? What is it?"

"There's nothing…It's not…Damn! Damn! Damn!" Lexi walked quickly around the room, her hands running nervously through her hair. Angelina and Patricia were both putting the finishing touches on their makeup, but looked up at Lexi, concerned and scared.

Bree grabbed her shoulders and made Lexi stop moving. "Calm down and explain."

"How can I calm down right now?!"

"Okay. Take deep breaths -"

"Don't tell me to take deep breaths!" Lexi snapped, finally looking Bree straight in the eye.

"Just tell me what happened." Bree made her voice sound as calm and soothing as possible. But Lexi didn't respond; she just stared straight into Bree's eyes. Bree motioned for Angelina and Patricia to leave the room. They both looked at each other, hesitating, not wanting to leave their friend, but left the room.

"It's just you and me, Lex. What's wrong?"

"It was supposed to start today." Lexi told her, her voice tense.

"What was?"

"My period."

Bree's eyes widened in panic too. "I thought you two were being safe about it."

"For the most part we are. But sometimes we don't plan to, and it just… happens. Like the first time."

"Well, we can't jump to conclusions. Maybe with all the stress you've been going through, your cycle was thrown off a little." Bree suggested.

Lexi's breathing calmed. "Maybe your right. What's one day, right?"

"Right. And if by the end of the week, you still don't get your period you can go see Madam Pomfrey to confirm."

"No!" Lexi nearly shouted.

"What?"

"Cedric can't find out."

"Why not? And what does that have to do with Madam Pomfrey?"

"This is the last thing he needs. He's under enough stress as it is. Finding out that I'm…" Lexi made herself say the word, "pregnant…would only push him over the edge. And I can't lie to him. I'd rather not know if it means I have to lie to him."

"You have to tell him eventually."

"I know. After the third task. Then we'll decide what to do." Lexi sighed. "That's if he doesn't leave me."

Bree scoffed. "He'd be an idiot to leave you. But you shouldn't worry, it's Saint Diggory we're talking about."

"What a saint," Lexi muttered sarcastically, "getting his girlfriend pregnant."

She was surprised at how easily the word rolled off her tongue this time.

"Hey. No one said you were." Bree pointed a finger in her face. "Now get out there and put on a happy face. We're going to be late for Charms."

Lexi groaned. For the first time in a long time, she was not looking forward to seeing Cedric. "So the lying begins."

It was easier than she thought it would be to lie to him and pretend like nothing was wrong; her innate need to protect him far outweighed her guilty conscience. She managed to put on that happy face, just as Bree said, and march right up to meet him with Bree at her side.

"Why are you so happy?" he smiled that dazzling smile at her as she approached him.

Maybe too happy of a face. Lexi shrugged nonchalantly and relaxed. "Feels like a good day."

"Good, because I want to show you something." he kissed the top of her head before turning away to take his seat, leaving her extremely curious.

After their Ancient Runes class in the afternoon, Cedric took Lexi by the hand and started leading her up a flight of stairs.

"Are you finally going to tell me what you were talking about?"

"How bad is the curiosity?"

"Horrible! Tell me." she demanded as he brought her up yet another flight of stairs.

"You'll see."

At least the burning of the curiosity pushed everything else that was swarming around in her head aside.

"Patience is not a virtue I possess, Cedric."

He rolled his clear eyes. " I know. Don't worry, you'll figure it out soon."

Cedric squeezed her hand and continued to lead her down a corridor until they came to an archway that opened up into a spiral staircase.

"The Astronomy Tower?"

Cedric didn't say anything, only smiled. When they got to the top, he pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.

"Another favor from Professor Sprout." she guessed.

"She loves me." he opened the door for her. "You'll find that I can be quite charming when I want to be."

"Don't worry. I know." she told him dryly.

He took her hand again and lead her to the crenellated parapet. Lexi gasped at the view.

"I take it you've never been up here during the day." Cedric wrapped his arms around her waist.

"It's beautiful."

Those words didn't seem to be enough. It was way more than beautiful. They were facing the lawns of Hogwarts, and beyond that the forest covering the rolling hills. The light breeze ruffled the tops of the trees and occasionally a bird would peak out the top and give its call. They saw Hagrid's hut standing at the edge of the forest, a curl of smoke issuing from the chimney. The Whomping Willow stood tall, quickly flicking away any bird or creature that attempted to crawl up its trunk. Cedric walked her around to another perspective. Now they were looking towards the front gates and Hogsmeade. The little village looked quiet, quaint. She saw a woman open a second story window to let the summer air in.

"Look." Cedric pointed towards the Quidditch pitch, his favorite place at Hogwarts. "Look what they've done to it." His voice was indignant. He really hated seeing his field messed up. But Lexi had to admit that the shrubs growing inside looked impressive.

"That looks scary."

"Imagine how I feel."

At his words, Lexi gripped his arm tighter, the desire to protect him flooding back inside of her. He leaned his mouth down to her ear.

"Don't worry about me, Lex. I'll be fine." he whispered.

"To late."

He sighed, then pointed to a nearby tower.

"Gryffindor Tower."

Lexi smiled at his attempt to distract her, and went along with it for his sake. "Fifth window down is my room." she informed him.

He chuckled. "I can spy on you now." He received a slap for his cheekiness.

They made their way over to the lake side of the castle. The view was stunning. The lake sparkled with what looked like little diamonds as the sun splashed down on it. Lexi leaned over the parapet, Cedric's arms still locked securely around her waist, to look at the cliff face. She remembered how ominous they had appeared when she was a first year, riding up to the cliffs to enter the school for the first time. Then her eyes drifted to the train tracks that snaked around the edge of the lake on the opposite shore. The tracks ran away behind the trees, back to society, the real world, a place that, at the moment, she never wanted to return to. Right now, everything was perfect.

"Thank you." she whispered.

Cedric turned her around to face him. He was so tall compared to her, she had to crane her neck to look into his eyes.

"You want to see something really cool?"

She nodded. The next second he was hoisting her onto one of the dips in the crenellated wall.

"What are you doing?"

He took both her hands and looked into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." she answered without a moments hesitation.

"Lean back." he told her. She pulled her eyebrows together in confusion. "I've got you. I won't let you fall."

She obeyed him; her trust in him was implicit. She felt her long hair fall away from her body and twist in the wind. A bubble of laughter came up in her throat, and that too twisted into the wind as she leaned back over the side of the tower. All she could see was the never ending sky clash into the hills on the horizon. Everything looked crystal clear and perfect. She could have stayed there all day to watch the change in the setting sun.

But, inevitably, blood started rushing to her face, causing discomfort. She squeezed Cedric's hands and he pulled her back up, pulling her directly into his chest. He leaned his head to the side to kiss her. It started off slow, but he quickly became rougher as she nibbled on his lower lip. They slid together down the side of the parapet as Cedric unfastened her robe. She shrugged out of it and he started pulling up her jumper while she worked to get off his robe.

It wasn't until Cedric finished unbuttoning her shirt that she remembered why she had been completely panicked that morning. And suddenly there were so many reasons why she couldn't continue. It took all her will power to push his hands away before he could remove her blouse.

"What is it?" he murmured against her lips.

"I don't want to."

He pulled away to look at her, his brow furrowed. "Lexi?"

Lexi didn't know what to tell him. He could tell that she was unwilling to stop, confusing him more.

"Can we not do that tonight?" her voice was barely over a whisper.

He didn't say anything, but he sat up and leaned his back against the wall, pulling her with him. She buried her face into his bare shoulder, not bothering to button her shirt back up; she liked the feeling of his skin against hers. He still didn't say anything, and his silence disturbed her.

"I'm sorry."

His body moved under hers, he cradled her in his arms. "No. I'm sorry."

He didn't even know what he was apologizing for, yet he sounded so sincere. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, and in response he kissed the top of her head.


	11. A Big Hug

It was odd, after hours of sitting in silence with Cedric, to walk into the noisy Gryffindor common room, kind of disconcerting. Lexi went straight to her room, knowing that she would pay for procrastinating on studying for finals. She bundled up in her sheets and was about to fall asleep when Bree sauntered in and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Lex? You awake?"

"Yeah."

"I've been thinking."

"About what?" Lexi sat up and looked curiously at her friend.

"Well, I was thinking if you were going to have a baby -"

Lexi cut her off with a groan.

"If." Bree emphasized. "Don't you think Hogwarts would be the best place possible?"

Lexi looked at her like she was insane. "Except all the pointing fingers and taunting words from everyone here."

"No. They'll all be jealous that Diggory is completely off the market." both girls laughed because it was probably true, sadly enough. "But think about it. You have Cedric, who would do anything for you. And then Hogwarts will be so accommodating. You'll have Madame Pomfrey, all the house elves down in the kitchen, and I'll bet they set up a room just for you, Cedric, and the baby so you two can finish your studies. Not to mention you have me, Tricia, and the rest of our little group for support. You can't get much better than that."

Lexi leaned back against her head board, deep in thought. Bree patted her foot before getting up. "Just think about it, and know I'll support you no matter what."

She left the room, and the silence was welcome. Lexi laid back down and covered her head with the sheets; pitch blackness was much easier to think in. She knew Bree was right, Hogwarts was probably the best place to bring a child into this world, and Cedric would probably be the best father.

Something in her heart eased. Cedric would be a great father.

It was easy to pretend that she was happy and that nothing was wrong because as every day passed Lexi started feeling happiness and started thinking that nothing was wrong. She had always wanted her own family, maybe not at the age of seventeen. It was certainly unexpected, but with each passing day she became more sure that she could be a mother even at this young age. She wasn't even positive that she was pregnant, she knew she would not be able to lie to Cedric. He would see that she was either heart broken or in a state of complete bliss, he would want to know why, and she would have to tell him. Disregarding the uncertainty, every part of her yearned for the child. Her child. His child. Their child.

Their child. Then Cedric nudged her with his. They were sitting in their last Arithmancy class before the final exam. "Are you paying attention? This could be on the exam." his voice was mocking. Stupid Triwizard Champion.

Her eyes became slits. "Shh. You ruined my dream."

"What dream? Tell me about it." he squeezed her hand underneath the desk.

"No." she shook her head. "If I tell you, it won't come true."… and she wanted this dream so much.

"Please." he was begging with his eyes. It was impossible to resist.

Her mouth opened unconsciously, but another voice rang above it.

"Mr. Diggory, Ms. Beckham, is this class interrupting your conversation?" Professor Vector was standing in front of their desk. Behind her, in the desk immediately in front of theirs, Kenneth Towler peaked around her arm. Sitting next to him, peaking around Professor Vector's other arm, was a petite figured Ravenclaw girl by the name of Jean Christie. Kenneth usually sat alone, but Jean had started sitting with him at the end of May. They were perfect for each other; Jean was just as full of herself. But despite both of their flaws, Lexi was glad they were happy. Everyone deserved happiness.

"Ms. Beckham?!" Professor Vector called her name for the third time. Cedric squeezed her hand underneath the desk, bringing her out of her reverie. "This is the last time I'm warning you."

Lexi nodded, even though she had no idea what Professor Vector was warning her about and what the punishment would be if she ignored the warning.

"Are you going to tell me what that was about?" Cedric asked her after they left the classroom.

"No. There's nothing to tell." except that she kept having dreams about him bouncing a gray eyed baby on his hip.

"You have been acting very… odd lately."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Is something wrong? You know you can tell me anything."

"Nothings wrong, Cedric. Just drop it. Please." she hated having to hide this from him.

"I don't believe you at all." but he dropped the subject. He should have believed her; nothing was wrong, everything was wonderful.

Lexi noticed then that he was leading her to the library. She stopped walking.

"Lex?"

"Cedric, I don't want to go to the library."

"Okay. Where do you want to go?"

"Nowhere. I don't want to study."

"Lexi." he sighed, trying to control the frown that was wanting to appear in his expression.

"Cedric, I've studied enough. I'm not worried about the exams at all."

"You should still do some last minute cramming."

She knew she should, but she couldn't. It wasn't something she could explain to him; it wasn't something she could explain to herself. She knew she wasn't nearly as prepared for the exams as she should be, with the exception of Charms because of all the practice she had been doing with him, but she couldn't bring herself to think about anything but him and her together. She didn't even want to think about that; she didn't want to think at all. She just wanted it to be him and her together.

"No. Let's do something tonight."

"What?"

"Come on. Let's forget about the exams and the tournament and let's do something. You and me."

He sighed again, and she thought he was going to argue, but then he smiled his sly smile. "How can I say no to that."

"I'll give you a hint. You can't."

"You are acting so strange." he mused, but he slung his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Where do you want to go? Mind you, I still have my prefect duties until dinner."

"Cedric," Lexi groaned, "Dumbledore said you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to. Now, where do you want me to meet you?"

"Umm… meet me in the entrance hall after you're finished dinner."

"I'll be there." he kissed the top of her head and strode off down the hall.

Lexi had no idea what to do between now and the time she would meet Cedric. She wandered the halls aimlessly, hoping something to do would jump out at her. It did, in the form of Bree and Patricia.

"Guess what we found out!" Bree and Patricia sang together.

"What?"

"Well, we have it from a very reliable source that tomorrow, since it is the final event in the tournament, the school is hosting all the families of the champions, which means -"

"What?!" Lexi nearly shouted.

"Apparently you already know what it means." Bree shrugged.

"I can't meet his parents _now_!"

"Why not?"

"Bree, remember that little thing I have to tell Cedric after the third task?"

"What thing?" Patricia looked between Lexi and Bree, hating that she was out of the loop.

But realization quickly dawned on Bree and her excited face turned down. "Oh. That."

"What's that?" Patricia shook Bree.

"Lexi might be up the duff."

"Bree!" Lexi slapped her arm.

"What? She won't tell." she waved her hand at Patricia.

"Lexi! I thought you were being safe!" Patricia scolded. "What were you thinking? How could you let this happen?!"

"_That_ is why I didn't want to tell anyone else!" Lexi hissed at Bree.

"Sorry. She was going to find out eventually."

"I'm sorry to blow up on you, Lex, but really."

"I know, Tricia! Do you think I haven't thought about it?"

"Tricia, calm down. She'll be fine." Bree tried to sooth her worries.

Patricia turned on Bree. "Do you think this is some kind of joke?!"

With that, Patricia marched away, scowling under her breath. Lexi stood, watching after her, hardly able to breath. She wanted so badly to find Cedric so he could wrap his arms around her and make everything go away. It was Bree, though, who hugged her and helped keep the tears in.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told her."

"It's okay. But I just want to find Cedric now." Lexi whimpered and broke away from their hug.

She knew where she would find him. His patrol spot was on the fifth floor, one down from where she was. Lexi jumped down the stairs and hurried through the corridors until she saw the tall sandy haired boy she was looking for. He spotted her when she was still half a hall away. He noticed her red eyes and was soon running to catch her. She practically flew into his arms and he held her tight against his chest. He didn't say anything, knowing full well that it was a vain hope to get her to talk before she wanted to. Instead, he abandoned his post and took her out onto the grounds, by the lake.

It wasn't until they were situated by the waters edge, his chin resting on top of her head, that she was able to realize the importance of his reaction. He really would do anything for her. He would always be there to protect and care for her. Patricia was entirely wrong to freak out the way she did. Lexi let out a sigh of relief and nuzzled closer to him.

"Do you want to talk about this?" Cedric asked her, feeling her relaxation.

"No. It was just a little spat I had with Patricia. That's all."

"Do you need to go work it out with her?"

"It's fine, Cedric. I found you for a reason."

"And what is that reason?"

"I needed a hug."

His arms constricted around her as he folded her closer into his body. "There." he told her, not letting go.

"Thank you."

"Anything else?"

"Yes." her tone was suddenly sharp. It took him by surprise. "When were you going to tell me your parents were coming?"

"Oh. How did you find out?"

"Bree. And I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Lex, I didn't want you to freak out, like you're doing now." he took her hands and smoothed them out. She hadn't realized they were clenched into fists.

"I have a right to freak out. What if they don't like me?"

"They'll love you, Lex. Just like I do." then he added with a hint of tease. "Well, maybe not _just_ like I do." He always knew how to make her relax and laugh.

"What are they like? Tell me about them."

"Okay. Then you tell me about yours. I'll have to meet them soon too."

They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing their parents. Cedric's father was over the top enthusiastic about his son's quidditch career, and his mother was a really good cook who loved to be outdoors. On summer holidays, their family would frequently go camping all over England, as well as the rest of Europe. Lexi told him her father was a big muggle sports fanatic; the two of them would have a lot to talk about. Her mother was constantly busy with her two little brothers, Jake and Russell, and baby sister, Ruby.

"Jake and Russell are both quidditch pros. They'll love you." Lexi told him. He chuckled in her ear.

It was late. The sun had set an hour earlier. Lexi moved to stand up. "Come on." she held out her hand to help him up.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see." she lead him towards the quidditch pitch.

"Lex., I thought you said you didn't want me thinking about the tournament. Bringing me here isn't going to help."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then trust me when I say you won't be thinking about the tournament."

She lead him up the path to the colossal stadium.


	12. One

Through the darkness, Lexi held Cedric's hand and lead him up the path to the quidditch stadium, but Cedric was surprised, and relieved, when she didn't take the path to the stadium entrance, but went the back way to the locker rooms.

He smiled to himself. "So, do you know if the door is locked?"

"I'm hoping alohamora works."

"It doesn't." he had to hold in the laughter that was coming up.

"Then I hope you have another magical key. It is your locker room."

"No. It doesn't open by key either."

"Password?"

"You nailed it. Do you know the password?"

"No. Do you?" she looked at him hopefully.

"Good planning, Lex." he let his laughter go and received her elbow in his side in return. "Don't worry, I know the password. The Captain makes it up."

"Then work your magic, Mr. Diggory." Lexi stopped in front of the Hufflepuff locker room.

"What did you have planned if we couldn't get in?" he asked before giving the password and letting her in.

"Everything that I planned to do in here except outside the door."

"And what do you have planned to do in here."

"Whatever you want." she opened the door that lead to the Captain's office.

It was a small room. A wooden desk was in the corner and a tall backed chair stood behind it. On the opposite wall hung Cedric's quidditch robes, and his broom, a Comet 260, rested against the wall beside it. Cedric looked at both objects fondly and took a seat on the edge of his desk.

"Do you miss it?" she asked, taking a seat in the chair beside him.

"Yes. Is that why you brought me here?"

"Yes."

"Thank you." he took her hand and pulled her out of the chair. With him sitting on the desk, they were closer in height, but she still had to reach onto her tip toes to meet his lips. He made it easier by lowering them to the floor.

Lexi loved the way Cedric made love with her. The operative word being 'with,' not 'to.' There wasn't any pressure with him, it all came naturally, and they were both just as inexperienced; they had been each others firsts. She loved that Cedric didn't see the need to go as fast and as hard as he could, he liked to savor the moment. He also had phenomenal stamina thanks to all the athletic training his father put him through; Cedric made sure they both came before he even thought about stopping. But what she loved most was that he was soft, yet deep; with every movement, with every kiss, she knew that he loved her. They became one body, one soul.

Tonight, Cedric was in no hurry to stop. Lexi knew there was no way she deserved the endless pleasure he gave her. His arms around her, holding her against his body, were like a protective shield against all the evil and pain in the world. There was nothing that could ruin their moment of happiness.

"Lexi," he groaned softly into her hair. "I love you."

She couldn't respond, the pressure inside of her was reaching its climax, making recognizable speech far from possible, and she heard in his breathing that he was close too. An ecstasy beyond words combusted inside of her, and she felt Cedric sink to the floor beside her, breathing heavily.

Lexi was finally able to respond to him as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I love you too, Cedric."

"How much do you love me, Lex?"

"What?"

"Could you love me forever?" his voice was rough, like he was trying to hide some hidden emotion.

That was an easy question. She had been thinking of nothing else all month. "I already do."

"Will you marry me?"

A different kind of ecstasy shot through her body and made her tremble. He wanted to marry her. She wanted to scream out loud and kiss his beautiful face. The only problem was she couldn't remember how to speak because the feeling of complete bliss took over every inch of her body, pushing aside useless things like speech and movement.

"Lexi?"

He shook her gently.

"We… we don't have to do it right away. We can wait a few years… until after we finish school… and get jobs." his voice was shaky, nervous. She hated hearing that, but she couldn't do anything.

His hand brushed her cheek and revived her. "Yes." she finally breathed. "Yes, I'll marry you."

She felt him exhale into her hair and knew he had been holding his breath. She turned her head upward to reach his lips, but they came crashing down on hers first. Her tongue twisted and locked around his, never wanting to let go. But he pulled back.

"I'm sorry I don't have a real ring to give you." he sat up and took his wand out of his inside robe pocket.

"I don't need a ring." she tried to pull him back down to her, hating all the space. He felt her struggle and pulled her up against him.

"Yes, you do." he pointed his wand at his quidditch robes. Silver sparks that looked like daggers issued out of it and cut a tiny sliver of fabric away from the yellow robe. Cedric levitated the strip towards them. He took Lexi's left hand and held it in front of him. Guiding the fabric with his wand, Cedric made it slide around her ring finger and lace itself up to form a ring.

Lexi tried to take her hand back so she could wrap it around his neck, but he held on tightly, not finished yet. With a tiny flick, purple and gold sparks shot from his wand. The next second, Lexi felt a weight on her finger. She looked down and saw that the strip of yellow fabric was gone, replaced by a gold ring with tiny diamonds embedded around the entire circumference.

"I'm sorry." he murmured.

"For what? It's beautiful."

"I haven't been able to synthesize real gold or diamonds yet. I can only get up to fake gold and crystal."

"I don't need real gold and diamonds. I was more than happy with the strip of fabric." she took her hand back and caressed his face.

He chuckled. "What will Fred and George say when you tell them that your ring if made from part of the Hufflepuff quidditch robe?" he joked. Laughing was so easy at that moment. Everything seemed easy and lighter than air.

"They probably won't say anything. They'll just cut my finger off."

"Are they still mad at me for beating them last year?"

"Very." she pushed her fingers up into his hair. The light from the candles around them bounced off the facets of her ring and made geometric shapes dance in his hair. She smiled broadly, loving the effect. "They don't like you at all, my love."

"That's a shame. I was going to ask them to be groomsmen." he didn't give her a chance to respond before he kissed her. This time he was not going to pull back.


	13. Morning After Hair

_Everything was black, then green. Bright, shocking green. Then his face appeared behind the green. Except it wasn't his face. This face was bone white, even the lips. The gray eyes didn't sparkle either, they were dead._

"Lexi!" his voice was frantic in her ear. The light shined red behind her eyelids and she knew it must be morning. "Lex? Wake up." he shook her this time, his voice even more urgent.

Her eyes shot open and she found herself staring into a pool of gray blue. She realized she was panting and she had beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Cedric!" she threw her arms around his neck, tears in her eyes.

"I'm here." he held her tightly against his chest.

"Don't go." she whimpered. "Please don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere, Lex." his hands stroked her hair down her back.

"No…" she could feel her tears overflowing and absorbing into the fibers of his shirt.

"What is it, honey? What did you see?" his voice was beyond worried.

"You. I saw you." she explained. "And I saw green. A lot of green. And you were so pale. And your eyes…" she couldn't continue.

"It was just a dream, love. Nothing is going to happen to me."

Lexi looked up into his eyes, so full of life. "Please, don't do anything brave."

"Lex, -"

"Cedric, I can't lose you."

"Lexi." he took her face in his hands. "I have a good feeling about tonight. I'm going to win this thing, and I'm doing it for you. Please don't worry about me."

She still couldn't shake off the foreboding in her heart, but she nodded to satisfy him.

"Come on. Let's get back up to the castle. I have to greet my parents."

"Oh." she noticed then that he was already fully dressed and holding out her undergarments for her to put on. She took them and quickly put on everything he handed to her.

He helped her to her feet. "Do you want to have breakfast with me?"

"I should take a shower, actually."

"Okay. Meet me during lunch. My parents really want to see you." he tried to reassure her as they walked back towards the school, hand in hand. It felt different to link hands now because the ring on her left hand, but it was a good kind of different.

"Do they know?"

"That I was planning on proposing to you? No."

"Planning?"

"Of course. I didn't plan to do it last night, but I knew I was going to soon."

"You're so sneaky."

They had reached the entrance, and Cedric stopped on the top step. He took her face in his hands and kissed her, then continued into the entrance hall, where they split so he could eat and she could get ready for class. She met Bree and Patricia in the deserted common room.

"Lexi!" Bree ran over to meet as she stepped through the portrait hole. Patricia lingered back, looking awkward. Bree looked her up and down. "No need to ask what you did last night, Lex."

"What?"

"You have some serious morning after hair."

Lexi shrugged then held up her left hand in front of Bree's face. "Deservedly so."

Bree's jaw dropped to the floor. "Oh. My. God." she grabbed Lexi's hand to analyze the ring more thoroughly. Patricia peeped over her shoulder. "Did you tell him?"

"About?"

"The possible baby." Bree said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lexi giggled to herself. "No."

"He just asked you?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Bree dropped her hand, and then said quickly, "I call maid of honor!"

"Done." Lexi smiled complacently at her.

Behind Bree, Patricia opened her mouth to speak.

"Tricia," Lexi said at the same time Patricia said, "Lexi."

"Go ahead." Lexi offered.

"I'm sorry, Lex. I shouldn't have blown up like that yesterday. It was just a shock, and I can see now that I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me."

Lexi gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry about it, bridesmaid."

Bree linked her arm through hers and started leading Lexi back towards the portrait hole. "So, have you met his parents yet? Because I'm sure you would have left quite an impression on them looking like this."

"No. I'm meeting them for lunch, and if I'm going to do that, I need to take a shower. So if you lovely ladies will excuse me." Lexi unlocked her arm from Bree's hold and headed to her room.

The clock on the wall was going way too fast, Lexi noted, as it neared lunch time. She could hardly concentrate on her Arithmancy exam because of that looming clock face. Before she knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of the exam and lunch time. As she packed her bag, she realized she wasn't sure where she was supposed to meet Cedric. She had no idea what he was doing right now, and she didn't know if he was going to come get her, or if she should meet him and his parents in the entrance hall, or at the Hufflepuff table, or if they were going to eat outside. She was so nervous.

But all her worries were futile. Cedric was waiting for her outside the classroom, parent-less.

"Where are your parents?" she asked him nervously as he took her hand.

"They're waiting for us in the entrance hall. I just wanted to come get you because I needed to warn you about something."

"What is it?" her voice broke at the end of her question. She couldn't imagine being more nervous than she was right now. Had Cedric told them about the sudden engagement? Did they disapprove?

"Well, umm…" he sounded nervous too. "Remember a couple of weeks ago you spent the night in my room and we couldn't find your underwear in the morning?"

"Yes. Did you find them?"

"No. My dad did."

Lexi felt her face grow hot. She could only imagine Mr. Diggory picking up her bright red, lace panties.

"I'm sorry, Lex."

"Why are you apologizing? They're my underwear."

"At least my mum was in the bathroom at the time. I don't think my dad will mention it to her."

"Did you tell them about the engagement? Please tell me you did." she was nervous enough, she didn't want to be there when he sprung the news of an engagement on them.

"I did." he chuckled. "They took it better than I thought they would."

Lexi was biting her lip anxiously. They were descending the marble staircase and she could see Cedric's parents, their backs facing them as they looked out the open front doors.

"Mum, Dad!" Cedric called to them, squeezing Lexi's hand, giving her just enough courage to get down the rest of the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory turned around at the sound of their sons voice. Mr. Diggory was tall, like his son, but stocky. He had a round friendly looking face with a scrubby brown beard; he must have been trying really hard to not look awkward. Mrs. Diggory was also tall, for a woman, coming up almost to the same height as her husband, but she had the thin build that Cedric took after. He looked a lot like her. They had the same high cheek bones and straight pointed nose, the same dazzling smile, and the same eyes, despite the fact that hers were a light brown, that gave off the same sparkle when one looked at them. They were both smiling at her, and some of her nervousness disappeared.

"Mum, Dad, this is Lexi Beckham." Cedric introduced her. "Lexi, this is my dad, Amos, and my mother, Catherine."

Lexi shook both their hands and smiled up into the faces of her future in-laws.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Lexi." Mrs. Diggory said sweetly. Her voice was so soft and calming. It was hard to feel nervous now.

"You didn't lie, son. She's beautiful." came Amos's boisterous voice. It was a shock to here him talk after hearing his wife; the difference was incredible.

Lexi felt herself blush at his compliment and felt Cedric put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer into his side.

"Shall we go then?" Cedric offered.

"Where are we going?" Lexi asked him. He was not leading her into the Great Hall.

"Mum wants to have lunch out by the lake."

Lexi saw that Mrs. Diggory was carrying a picnic basket.

"It's such a beautiful day." Mrs. Diggory smiled as the sun hit her face. "It would be a sin to let it go to waste."

Lexi and the Diggorys ate and talked by the lake front. They talked about the engagement, and Lexi was happy to find that his parents were sincerely happy for them. She had been dreading a lecture about being too young, and then she wondered if that lecture would come when they found out she might be pregnant. However, the only complaint came from Amos, who was concerned that marriage might put a damper on his son's dream to play pro quidditch. Lexi had to assure him that by no means would she let Cedric quit playing quidditch.

After Lexi finished her Transfiguration final in the afternoon, she met up with Cedric and his parents again to take a short tour of the castle. Mrs. Diggory was particularly enthralled when Cedric took them up to see the top of the Astronomy Tower.

But as the day progressed, Lexi's hand became more of a vise around Cedric's, not wanting to let him go. The dream she had that morning had seriously shaken her, and she was terrified that something could potentially go wrong for him while he was in there. She had faith in his abilities and she knew he was a powerful wizard, but with everything that was going on, the engagement and the baby, Lexi couldn't bear the thought of life without him. Cedric seemed to sense this, but he didn't say anything; he held onto her tighter as well.

Even with his arm wound tightly around her waist, Lexi's insides twisted and curled themselves into an agonizingly uncomfortable knot when Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table after the evening feast.


	14. Final Task

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament." Dumbledore's venerable voice echoed throughout the Great Hall. "Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

"I love you." Cedric whispered in Lexi's ear and kissed the side of her head before he rose from his seat beside her. She looked at him, begging with her eyes for him to be safe, and then mouthed 'I love you' back to him.

"Good luck, Ced." his father, who had been sitting on Cedric's other side, patted his shoulder before Cedric walked away towards the entrance hall.

There was applause and cheers everywhere as the four champions walked forward, but Lexi couldn't bring herself to join them in celebration. The last thing she saw was his clear gray eyes turn back to connect with hers before he disappeared around the corner.

She felt her heart stop beating for a long moment, and then it picked up speed and felt like it was hammering the inside of her chest. She left the Great Hall with Mr. and Mrs. Diggory and met up with Bree, Nick, and Patricia before heading out to the quidditch pitch. Lexi saw Fred, George, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina sitting midway up in the stadium, but she wanted to share this next hour or so with the Diggorys, so they found another spot farther up. The buzz around them became louder and louder with excitement and anticipation until Ludo Bagman's voice echoed into the stands. Lexi craned her neck, like everyone else, to get a better look, and tried to find Cedric, who was supposed to be standing near Bagman. She finally spotted him, his tall figure towering over Harry, who was standing next to him. She saw that his eyes were sweeping over the stands, trying to find her and his parents.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin. Let me remind how the points currently stand." Bagman announced. "Tied in first place, with eighty five points each, Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"

The crowd burst into cheers. Lexi tried to drown all the noise out as she anxiously hoped Cedric's eyes would find her. He looked about as frantic as she felt; his eyes darting everywhere, but they glazed over her every time they came close.

"In second place," Bagman continued, "with eighty points, Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!"

The applause erupted again. Lexi held her eyes on Cedric.

"And in third place, Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" Bagman waited until the cheers calmed down to continue. "So, on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!"

Lexi felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest at any moment it was beating so hard. Cedric was still searching the stands. _Come on, Cedric_, she thought. Cedric's eyes darted over to her area.

"Three…"

His eyes passed over her twice.

"Two…"

Then he saw her. Their eyes connected, and she saw him exhale in relief. A smile came over his face, and her heart calmed.

"One!"

And he was gone. Cedric hurried into the maze with Harry. The crowd exploded with applause again and Lexi joined in this time. Amos Diggory was screaming cheers for his son until his wife hushed him. After the other two champions were in the maze and the crowd calmed down a little, Lexi relaxed into her seat. She wished she could know what was happening inside the maze.

Beside her, Patricia was sitting on the edge of her seat, trying to get a look inside the maze, but her efforts were in vain. The hedges that made up the maze were huge. On Patricia's other side, Bree and Nick didn't seem to realize they were in a crowded stadium packed with avid fans. The two of them were making goo-goo eyes at each other and playing with each others hands and occasionally starting to make out until Patricia would elbow Bree in the side in disgust. Lexi thought she should start a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Diggory while they waited for the person they all loved to come out of the maze, but they seemed about as keen to talking as she was.

About thirty minutes into the task, red sparks flew up midway on the opposite side of the stadium from where Lexi was seated. She held her breath until it was affirmed that Fleur Delacour had forfeited. Fifteen minutes later, another red flare went up, and Lexi repeated her reaction until they announced Viktor Krum was out. It was just Cedric and Harry in there now. Not five minutes after Krum's flare, Lexi saw movement close to the center, where a bright silver glow was visible in the night. The crowd murmured and pointed, but the movement in the hedge stopped as soon as it had started.

Then, without any warning, the silver glow in the center of the field was gone. Confused shouts echoed around the stadium. But Lexi couldn't concentrate on that. Not thirty seconds after the glow disappeared, two things happened consecutively. Lexi felt her left hand become lighter, as if a weight had been removed. She looked down and immediately noticed her ring was gone. Sitting in its place the band of canary yellow fabric from Cedric's quidditch robes. Immediately after, she felt an excruciating pain in her chest. It felt like her heart had been shredded apart into a billion pieces and fell into her stomach only to be devoured by acid. The scream that was trying to rip out of her was caught in her throat. She knew what had happened. She knew without a doubt. Her ring had disappeared because the person who put the complex charm on it had disappeared. He was gone, and she would never see him again, never hold him again, never protect him. Part of her scream wriggled free, but only came out as quiet gasp before she fainted.

* * *

A/N: I don't usually write notes until the end, but i had to this time. The dialogue given by Dumbledore and Bagman is (c) J.K. Rowling. Anyway, I hope you all like the story. The next chapter will probably be the last.


	15. Something To Live For

Her head rolled to the side and her cheek sunk into the mushy contents of a pillow. Lexi's eyes fluttered open. Artificial lighting glowed in the background. Hushed voices buzzed around her. She tried to focus her eyes, but everything remained fuzzy. She felt a weak thud-thud in her chest. Then everything hit her. Cedric was gone. How was her heart still beating? Why was her heart still beating? What was the point? She heard a whimper escape her lips.

The hum of the voices came closer and surrounded her. She recognized Bree's voice, calling her name in a whisper. In the background she heard the sound of two little boys trying to entertain themselves with a game. Jake and Russell. Which meant her family was there. Yes. Her mother's voice scolded them for making so much noise. Closer by, however, she heard a man weeping. She didn't recognize the sound, but then she heard a calm, soft voice she did recognize trying to the sooth the crying man. Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were with her.

A pain ripped through her chest again, but it was not as potent as the first time. Everything became clear, and she could finally see the room around her. She recognized it immediately as the room across from the Great Hall, where she once waited with all the other first years to be sorted into their houses. Lexi saw her mother tug on her father's arm and he left the room.

"Lexi?" Bree's voice was rougher than usual, like she had something caught in her throat. Lexi understood that; at the moment she felt like she had a brick lodged in her throat.

But Lexi didn't want to see any of the people in the room except the Diggorys. She scanned her surroundings and finally found them sitting close by her bed. Her eyes connected with Mrs. Diggory's, and she saw that familiar sparkle, in a dim form. Just looking at her made Lexi break down into tears. She felt her mother sit next to her and pull her into her arms. Lexi didn't want the comfort, but she knew her mother needed this, to feel like she was helping her daughter.

She didn't know how long they sat like that, but sometime later, she heard her father enter back into the room accompanied by someone else. Madame Pomfrey was soon by her side.

"How do you feel, dear?" she asked in a compassionate voice.

Lexi still couldn't speak, so she shook her head.

The nurse poured a honey colored solution into a cup. "Here. Drink this."

"What is that?" her mother asked.

"It's a calming solution. It should help with her nerves."

She could feel the effect immediately. Her body was relaxing. Physically, she felt calm, but her mind was still in excruciating turmoil. She could only see Cedric: his eyes, his smile, the way his hair fell across his forehead. Lexi was still facing the Diggorys and she wanted so bad to ask them what happened to their son. She had to know; to get any sort of closure, she had to know. But really she didn't want closure, she wanted to die, she had nothing to live for anymore.

Lexi looked away from her almost in-laws, and found her father. He was bouncing her two year old sister, Ruby, on his hip. All of a sudden the vision of Cedric bouncing their child around on his hip lashed out at her. She found her voice.

"Madame Pomfrey, am I pregnant?"

The room went dead silent. She could feel every eye on her, but she didn't care. No one moved. Even Madame Pomfrey had frozen in shock.

"Excuse me?" Madame Pomfrey managed to ask her after a minute.

"Can you test to see if I'm pregnant. I've had suspicions that I am for the past few weeks."

"Of… of course, dear." Madame Pomfrey took out her wand and started waving it over her abdominal area.

"Lexi?" her mother's voice was squeaky. Lexi saw the shock and confusion in her eyes. She saw her father next. His eyes were opened wide and his mouth was hanging open. At the foot of her bed, Jake and Russell had abandoned their game and had come to sit by her. Jake was now rubbing his hand over the blanket where her feet were, and Russell was beside him, resting his chin on his folded arms. Both of them seemed to be oblivious of the importance of her request. They were not judging her. Lexi couldn't read the expressions on Mr. and Mrs. Diggory's faces. It seemed to be a mix of shock and hope. That made sense. Of course it would give them a sense of getting part of their son back if she were to be pregnant with his child.

Madame Pomfrey was still doing her test. It was disturbing to watch because Lexi knew the result of this test was going to decide her fate: life or death.

"Mrs. Diggory?" she asked as a distraction.

"Yes, Lexi?"

"What happened?" her voice broke on the last word. "He was in the maze and the Cup disappeared."

"Yes. The Cup had been turned into a Portkey." she explained. Lexi was surprised at how calm she managed to keep her voice. "Both Cedric and Harry grabbed it and it transported them far away, somewhere in Yorkshire. It had been a trap set up for Harry. A death eater was there, waiting for them. On You-Know-Who's order, he killed Cedric immediately." her voice broke then.

Lexi didn't want to ask, to put Mrs. Diggory through anymore pain, but she had to. Her dream of Cedric lying dead surrounded by green was hammering in her head. "Was it the killing curse?"

"Yes."

A single tear ran down Lexi's cheek. She had been right, her dream had been a premonition. She had warned him about it, and still he walked away from her. She should have begged him not to go, she should have told him he couldn't go because of his child. She wanted to weep, but her body wouldn't allow it because of the calming potion.

Then Lexi felt a hand in hers, and recognized it as Bree's. Through everything, Bree had stuck with her. Now Bree was looking up at Madame Pomfrey expectantly. Everyone was because the nurse had stopped her wand waving and was now looking at Lexi.

"Yes, Miss Beckham. You're with child."

She heard her mother collapse into a chair, and she saw that her father still hadn't moved from his previous position. Bree gave her a warm smile and brushed the stray hairs out of Lexi's face. She saw Mrs. Diggory bury her face into her husbands shoulder. Both of them were crying now, tears of hope, joy, and sadness.

Lexi sighed. She had something to live for again. She felt her heart mend itself from the previous shreddings. It would always be scarred, she knew that, but it would always be whole as well, their child would keep it together. But even a child couldn't erase the agony she felt for Cedric. Lexi rolled on her side, wrapping her arms around her abdomen, pulling her knees up to her, trying to keep herself from falling apart, and closed her eyes.


	16. Author's Note

Don't hate me!!

I know that was a rather depressing ending, but that was only the ending to the first part of Cedric and Lexi's story. There will be a second part, I couldn't leave Lexi like that.

This ending is actually way happier than the original one I had planned. At first I had Lexi not be pregnant, she had simply missed her period and jumped to the wrong conclusion; I was going for the really tragic ending. But then the reviews some of you gave made me change my mind. See, I'm listening to you J

So, Lexi's baby will play a big role in the next part. But as I wasn't planning on having her exist, I'm at a loss for names. I would LOVE to here your suggestions. Just message me or give a name in a review of the last chapter. The baby will be a girl, and she will take Cedric's last name.

Anyway, I don't know when I'll write the next part because I have to get back to work on another writing project that actually has a deadline. Who knows, just keep an eye out for it. I'll probably post another author's note on this story to tell those who have added this story to their alerts. Also, I'll probably write Cho's story before I get around to this Part 2. I want to do this because it will help show Cedric in those times Lexi wasn't with him, which is important because Part 2 will partially be in his POV as well as Lexi's.

Until then, peace out!

Jules


	17. Author's Note 2

Well, I caved. I couldn't stay away from this story. Now, I'll probably procrastinate to the very end on the writing assignment I'm supposed to be working on for the creative writing class I'm taking this semester. lol

Cedric and Lexi are worth it though and maybe I'll just end up writing their story in a more muggle approved way and turn that in. That would be awesome!

Anyway, I'm going to post the first chapter of the sequel called "Unwinding Cable Car." The title is an Anberlin song (great song, you should go to you tube right now if you haven't heard it). I couldn't think of a good title, and this song just fit, so I took it. lol

Hope you like it! Love you all

Jules


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